


something kinda crazy

by okaywoozi



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, M/M, Pining, donghyuck is..... donghyuck, jaemin is the voice of reason, mark is oblivious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-04-11
Packaged: 2018-10-17 15:37:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10597038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okaywoozi/pseuds/okaywoozi
Summary: Mark regrets it immediately.He regrets how he and Donghyuck had made it their New Year's resolution to wake up on time. He regrets it every single morning he hears their dumb alarm sound (an audio of Chenle doing his signature high-pitched laughter), but usually he’d drag himself out of his warm and cosy bed to slam his hand on the snooze button.However, that morning was different.





	

**Author's Note:**

> once again, thank you so much to my friend and beta [mitch](http://archiveofourown.org/users/mouhtai/pseuds/mouhtai) (* ^ ω ^)

Mark regrets it immediately.

He regrets how he and Donghyuck had made it their New Year's resolution to wake up on time. He regrets it every single morning he hears their dumb alarm sound (an audio of Chenle doing his signature high-pitched laughter), but usually he’d drag himself out of his warm and cosy bed to slam his hand on the snooze button.

However, that morning was different.

The two of them had started this routine right at the start of their ‘Limitless’ promotions, and had managed to bounce out of bed relatively quickly at first. It’s already the third week of it and with the promotion about to run its course and their comeback with the Dreamies’ only a mere two weeks away, Mark and Donghyuck could honestly care less about waking up at the crack of dawn.

Mark wakes up straight away, of course. The minute he hears that damn laugh, a mixture of shrieking and cackling, he rolls onto his side, pulling the blanket over his head as he did so. The bedroom’s silent at first, save for Chenle’s laughter when a loud groan comes from the younger boy’s bed on the other side of the room.

“Mark.” Donghyuck croaks out, his voice sounding hoarse from practising the night before.

Mark pretends to be asleep.

“ _ Mark.”  _ Donghyuck repeats again, putting more emphasis onto the name. “Turn it off.”

Mark lets out a loud snore. He hears Donghyuck mutter “ _ you don’t even fucking snore”  _ under his breath before he gets out of bed, his weight on the ground making the floorboards creak. Donghyuck’s shuffles around, mumbling even more curse words as he accidentally knocks over what sounds like one of the ten unlit scented candles he’s placed around their room.

The room light flickers on, shortly followed by the slam of a hand onto the snooze button. Mark’s blanket is rudely ripped out of his hands right afterwards, sending the blinding white light into his eyes and exposing him and his Hello Kitty sleeping shorts to the world.

Mark whines, his hand automatically sticking upwards and swinging around, hoping to strike Donghyuck square in the stomach. He only feels a hand grab his wrist, and then Donghyuck’s face looms over his.

“Wakey wakey.” Donghyuck taunts with a cheeky smirk on his face, gripping Mark’s other wrist and resisting his attempts to wrestle out of his hold. Donghyuck is shirtless once again. Of course he is (since he’s sensitive to hot temperatures but doesn’t ask Mark how he knows that).

“ _ Go away _ , Donghyuck.” Mark whines again, twisting and turning his body in all sorts of elaborate positions to push Donghyuck away.

Mark feels the mattress shift, and he forces his eyes open to see Donghyuck kneeling on his bed, trying to drag him off it. Laughter emits from Donghyuck’s lips as the pair pushes and pulls in the battle to get Mark out of bed, his ears are flushed red and Mark doesn’t know why, nor does he really care. Donghyuck’s ears are always red around him.

A voice from the living room calls for the two of them, and Mark uses that moment to pull Donghyuck, which results in Donghyuck letting go of his wrists, but also results in him losing his footing and falling on top of Mark.

Their lips are only separated by a mere two centimeters, Mark is somehow still holding Donghyuck’s hands after the whole frenzy, but that’s besides the point. Mark’s heart is beating so fast he could barely breathe, and he’s suddenly aware of how he can feel Donghyuck’s body heat radiating off him. Donghyuck’s brown eyes were wide with surprise and absolute horror, his pink lips slightly parted.

The two stayed there for a few more seconds until Donghyuck rolls himself off Mark’s bed, gets up to his feet and runs out of their room so fast that he could give Barry Allen a run for his money. Mark lies on his bed in shock, his hand subconsciously reaching up to touch his lips although they didn’t  _ actually _ kiss, which Mark somehow feels disappointed about.

Mark sits up in a flash, his eyes wide. He tries to calm his racing heart down, but to no avail. He glances at himself in the mirror, and he notices how bright red his cheeks and neck were, and when he puts two hands to them he feels how warm they feel. Mark looked over at Donghyuck’s bed, still messy and unmade. He closes his eyes, but all he can think about is Donghyuck’s smile and warm eyes and messy bed hair, and all he can hear is Donghyuck’s loud laughter in his head. He looks back at himself in the mirror, then to himself, he says in monotone English. “I think I’m in love with Donghyuck.”

And of course, Johnny is the one who walks by his open bedroom door right at that moment. He does a double take, and stops at the doorway. “What about Donghyuck?”

Mark flinches and panics, blurting out. “Nothing!”

Johnny frowns for a brief moment, but then shrugs and continues on his way. Mark lets out a big sigh of relief, leaning back onto the wall.

Thankfully, Johnny only hears the tail end of his statement.

 

* * *

 

 

It’s now a week until the Dreamies’ comeback. It has also been a week since Donghyuck had started to avoid Mark for whatever reason. Whenever Mark walks into the same room as him, Donghyuck suddenly needs to go to the bathroom  _ immediately _ . Whenever Mark returns to their shared bedroom to rest, Donghyuck is always asleep. Mark knows that he can be quite oblivious at times, but he really did have absolutely no idea what he did this time.

While taking a break in between practice, Mark racks brain to retrace his steps prior to Donghyuck avoiding him. Was it because he ate the last ice cream that they had left in the freezer? Impossible, Mark shared it with Donghyuck in the end anyway. 

Was it because he got pissy at him during practice? That was impossible too, he had already apologised to Donghyuck right afterwards. Was it because-  _ Oh _ . A sudden realisation comes to Mark. Was it because they nearly kissed that one morning? Mark’s heartbeat quickens at the thought of Donghyuck being that close to him, and he quickly brushes it aside. After all, it was only just an accident. Donghyuck isn’t the type to get angry over that, he’d always hugged Mark at every chance he got anyway.

From his position on the ground, Mark spies Donghyuck dancing alone from the corner of his eye. He smiles fondly, Donghyuck always works hard at whatever he does. He remembers how the two of them would stay up to ungodly hours just to practice for the showcases, they were sweaty and completely exhausted but the thought of them debuting together helped them pull through. Mark sighs, and chews on his bottom lip before getting to his feet.

Mark’s about to approach Donghyuck to ask if he had done anything to offend him, when they make eye contact through the mirror. Donghyuck freezes, the very tips of his ears glowing red. He quickly bends down to pick up his water bottle, before taking long strides to the door and out of the practice room. 

Mark stops dead in his tracks, and turns around to look at the other members to see if any of them had witnessed what just happened. Renjun and Jeno are stuck in their own world, Chenle and Jisung are God knows where, Jaemin isn’t here and Donghyuck - for  _ some  _ reason - is pissed off at him. Mark groans and throws his hands up in frustration, attracting the attention of the other two members who were in the room.

“What’s wrong?” Renjun says, finally taking his eyes off Jeno’s face. Mark takes a seat in between the two and he notices how Jeno presses his lips together in slight displeasure and he sighs, sliding over to Renjun’s other side.

“It’s Donghyuck. Do you guys know what’s up with him?” Mark questioned.

Renjun throws a casual glance towards the door as he takes a swing of water. He gulps it down and shrugs. “No idea. Jeno, do  _ you  _ know what’s up with Donghyuck?” Renjun leans his head on his arm and smiles at Jeno.

Jeno hiccups and shrugs as well. “I have no idea either. Did you two fight?”

Mark frowns and leans back against the wall. “No we didn’t, at least I don’t think we did.”

“I don’t know, Mark… You can be pretty, uh-” Renjun exchanges another smile with Jeno before continuing, a hint of doubt in his voice. “ _ Unobservant  _ at times.”

“Trust me, I really didn’t do anything this time.” Mark insists. He sits with the pair for a few more seconds, starting to feel like a third wheel from looking at the way they’re staring at each other. Mark shakes his head and hurriedly stands up, determined to weasel more answers out of his fellow members.

Mark follows Donghyuck’s footsteps into the hallway outside of the practice room. There, he spots Chenle and Jisung buying drinks from the vending machine. Mark smirks, and walks quickly towards them. Jisung glances up and when he spots him, all the colour in his face vanished.

“Hey guys!” Mark says in an exaggerated, overly cheery tone. If possible, Jisung turns even paler. Chenle, however, is all smiles.

“Hey Mark!” Chenle exclaims, Jisung bends down to reach into the slit of the machine and takes out a bottle of Coke. Mark forces on a big, wide, toothy smile at them.

“Did you guys happen to see where Donghyuck went?” Mark suggests, leaning against the wall and staring at the two of them.

“Donghyuck?” Chenle repeats, and he points towards the elevator. “Oh, he went-” Chenle is silenced by a painful whack to the back of his head from Jisung, who nervously smiles at Mark and stammers. “N-no, we didn’t see him.”

Mark narrows his eyes. “Are you  _ sure _ ?”

The two teenagers give each other wide-eyed stares before nodding their heads. “Yes!” They squeaked, Chenle still wincing from Jisung’s earlier smack.

Mark sighs and throws his empty water bottle in the bin. Although Renjun and Jeno were pretty convincing, the youngest two members easily gave it away. They definitely knew why Donghyuck is ignoring him, and although Mark couldn’t weasel the answers out of them by force, he was still going to get to the bottom of it.

 

* * *

 

 

It’s been another three days, and Mark isn’t even annoyed anymore. He’s sad and moody and  _ horribly  _ lovesick over Donghyuck’s absence in his daily routine. Donghyuck’s always been there whenever Mark practices, whether be it with the Dreamies or the older members, and along with him being his roommate, and Mark realises that he really did spend a large portion of his days with Donghyuck.

Mark drags his heavy feet into the dorms, careful not to wake any of the other members up. It’s extremely late, but if Mark manages to fall asleep fast enough, he could squeeze in an hour or two of sleep before he had to go for practice in the morning again. He had spent the night polishing off the final steps in the new choreography, and was the last one to leave the practice room. 

On nights like this, Donghyuck would have been practising right beside him, encouraging him and cracking funny jokes in order to keep the mood light. But without Donghyuck, Mark feels physically and mentally exhausted. He was afraid to admit it at first, but he misses Donghyuck.

Mark slowly opens the door of his room, wincing when a loud creak sounds from the rusty door hinges. He pokes his head in first, making sure that Donghyuck is safe and sound in his bed. Mark spots a big lump on Donghyuck’s bed, and he frowns. Donghyuck is bundled up in his blanket for some reason. Although it’s still quite chilly, he’s always been sensitive to heat, which is one of the main reasons why he never slept without a shirt or his blanket (unless it was the middle of winter). 

Mark also notices how one of Donghyuck’s scented candles is still lit, sitting precariously on their messy bedside table. Mark tuts softly, placing his bag on the ground and heading over to blow the flame. The light from the living room allows him to see that the scent was a vanilla one from Bath & Body Works or something, and Mark recalls how he once remarked that that was probably his favourite one.

He shakes his head, scoffing at himself. How could he actually think that Donghyuck would light up a candle just because he said that it’s his favourite? Just because he’s acting  _ completely  _ out of character, that doesn’t mean that the impossible is about to happen, and that is him liking him back. Impossible.

Mark sighs bitterly, turning to close the bedroom door and hangs up his jacket on one of the hooks that’s glued onto the back of the door. He dejectedly crawls into his bed and under the covers, staring blankly at the ceiling. If he thought hard enough, he could remember the look on Donghyuck’s face during the incident. The look of surprise in his eyes, his soft lips parted slightly, his ears a deep red. Mark recalls to the times when the members would make fun of Donghyuck when he blushes whenever he hugs Mark, but Mark had always just brushed it off as a coincidence. There’s no way that someone as beautiful and unique and wonderful as Lee Donghyuck would like him back.

Mark’s just about to drift off to sleep when he gets struck with an idea. A  _ wonderful  _ idea. If the other members knew something and doesn’t want to tell him, he still had someone left. Someone who he knows that will give him the proper advice to act on.

 

* * *

 

 

The next evening, Mark finds himself dialing in Jaemin’s number on his phone. Although the boy is resting at home because of his injury, the members still frequently speak to Jaemin in their group chat where he’s an active member. Whether it be to update him on what ruckus Chenle and Jisung had caused or just for a heart-to-heart chat, Jaemin was always there for his members.

Which is why Mark had decided to consult Jaemin on what he’s dubbed the “Donghyuck Problem”. Although there’s a very high chance that either Renjun or Jeno or someone else had already told him about Donghyuck being angry at him, Mark trusted Jaemin enough to know that he would give him his honest, blunt and unbiased opinion on what he should do next. And since Donghyuck was out somewhere doing God-knows-what with the others, that evening was the perfect time to contact Jaemin.

The line rings once, twice, three times until Jaemin finally picks up. “Yes, Mark?” Jaemin’s cheery voice rings across the telephone line, he emphasises the K sound at the end of Mark’s name and clicks his tongue.

“Good evening to you too.” Mark says, and now with greetings out of the way, he gets straight to the point. “Has Donghyuck spoken to you, like, in the past few days?”

“Oh yeah.” Jaemin hums. Mark can practically hear him smiling. “We’ve spoken.  _ A lot.  _ I’ve spoken to the others too, you know, the norm. Why do you ask?”

Mark lets out an inward groan. That means that Jaemin knows that something went down between the two of them, and judging from the cheeky tone of his voice he definitely knew something. He replies, aware of how shaky his voice is. “Just asking for a friend but-”

“Just get to the point, dude.” Jaemin cuts him off and Mark lets out a huge cough in surprise. He hears Jaemin sigh before continuing. “Jeno told me about you two having some sort of a cold war. So what’s up?”

Mark groans and readjusts his position on his bed so that he’s sitting on the edge of it. “Exactly, I don’t even know what I did! Oh and,” He remembers how he needs to give Jaemin some context on the problem he’s facing. “I’m pretty sure I’m like, in love with Donghyuck.”  His words trailed off towards the end, cringing at how small and pathetic and awkward he sounded. It was a lot harder actually saying it than just forming the words in his mind.

Jaemin is so silent, that Mark’s started to wonder if he was even still on the line. Of course, as soon as he starts to get worried, a loud guffaw rings in his ears. “Oh my god.” Jaemin manages to get out in between his laughter. “ _ It’s about fucking time. _ ”

Mark doesn’t register his words for the first few seconds. “It isn’t funny! Stop- Wait, what?”

Jaemin’s laughter has dyed down, but he was still letting out weak chuckles. “I mean, it’s about  _ fucking time _ that you admitted it.”

Mark sits upright on his bed. “W-What?  _ What? _ ” He’s completely horrified by Jaemin’s reaction. He doesn’t understand how Jaemin could have possibly suspected that he had a crush on Donghyuck, he himself didn’t realise until a week and a half ago. 

“God Mark, you’re so oblivious sometimes.” Jaemin says, as if he knows something that Mark doesn’t know.

“Why does everyone say that?!” Mark mumbles harshly under his breath, standing up to pace around his and Donghyuck’s room. His right hand which he’s using to hold his phone starts to get sweaty, and he switches hands.

“Because that’s what you are. Oblivious to everything and everyone around you.” Jaemin states matter-of-factly. He continues. “I don’t know how to break this to you but, nearly everyone already thinks that you like Donghyuck.” Jaemin giggles at the end of his sentence.

Mark nearly has a stroke right there and then. He racks his brain for any incident where he had somehow shown particular affection for Donghyuck and comes up with nothing. “That’s impossible. I myself only realised it like, two weeks ago? I don’t even remember, it seems so long ago.”

Mark hears Jaemin snap his fingers in the background. “ _ Exactly _ , Mark. Exactly. It seems so long ago because it’s always been at the back of your mind. You’ve only just realised it. Heck, even  _ MC Ari _ thinks that something is going on between the two of you!” 

Mark shakes his head to himself and leans against the closed bedroom door. It seems so clear to him right now. The excessive teasing and skinship, his willingness to do  _ anything _ as long as it made Donghyuck happy, how all feelings of anxiety and worry vanished the moment Donghyuck stepped into the room, those late night talks with him before they debuted where Mark stared at Donghyuck for a bit  _ too  _ long, the moonlight shining down on the younger’s face which highlighted all the curves and angles of his face.

The only thing Mark can say after this drastic surge of emotions is “ _ oh _ ”.

Jaemin huffs smugly. “So, what exactly happened? Jeno didn’t provide me with any details, and Donghyuck refused to tell me what went down between you two.”

“Well, we might have almost kissed.” Mark states, and Jaemin lets out a whoop in excitement. 

“Ooh! Tell me more!”

And so Mark continues. “We were in bed. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, but  _ not  _ because we did anything! It’s his sleepwear.” Jaemin lets out even more noises of excitement, Mark can tell that he’s hanging onto his every word.

“And?” Jaemin probes him for more information, for more juicy details. “That’s it.” Mark shrugs, and Jaemin lets out a hoarse wail of despair.

“That’s it, Mark! That’s why he’s avoiding you! God, you’re such an idiot sometimes!” Jaemin shrieks. Mark’s about to take offence to his younger friend calling him an idiot, but Jaemin continues to chatter on without giving him time to reply.

“Mark, you bloody  _ idiot! _ ” Jaemin screams so loudly, Mark’s surprised that the phone lines hadn’t burned out just from his voice. He continues firing at rapid speed. “You should have kissed him! That’s why he’s avoiding you!”

“But-” Mark manages to quickly speak before Jaemin continues to call him an idiot. “But what if I kissed him, but he doesn’t, you know, like me back?”

“But Donghyuck  _ does _ like you too! It always goes both ways, Mark. Everyone can see it but the both of you are so blind and oblivious that you two don’t even realise that you like each other!”

“How are you so sure?” Mark chews on his bottom lip, his right hand reaching up to tug at his ear. 

Jaemin scoffs. “Impossible. Donghyuck might not have told me, but believe me.  _ Everyone  _ can tell Mark.  _ I  _ can tell, and I’m never wrong.” When Mark doesn’t reply, Jaemin speaks again. “You have to tell him, Mark.”

“But I-”

“Mark. Just do it. Do it! The two of you have been waiting for far too long, and frankly, me and the rest are sick of the two of you giving each other longing, puppy-eyed looks when the other isn’t looking.”

Mark hesitates. If he tells and Donghyuck doesn’t actually reciprocate his feelings, everything could turn out badly. Not only would their friendship be ruined forever, it’d be difficult to even treat each other normally on stage and in front of fans. This was a make it or break it decision, and Mark had a hard time deciding on what to do. 

The truth is that yes, he did want to hold Donghyuck’s hand and to kiss him and to whisper sweet nothings into his ear as they laid under the night sky with their hands and legs intertwined together with Donghyuck snuggled into the crook of his necks. Mark wanted to extract all the sadness and pain from him and shoulder it all by himself, because Donghyuck didn’t deserve to feel any of those kind of emotions. Donghyuck deserved to feel happy.

“I…. I think I’ve made up my mind.” Mark says firmly, feeling a lot more in control of his thoughts than he was five minutes before. “Call me back in an hour and I’ll let you know how it went.”

“Yes!” Jaemin cheers in triumph, Mark hears a loud thud on the opposite line and he assumes that it’s because Jaemin had jumped to his feet. “Mark, you better have kissed the  _ fuck  _ out of him by the end of tonight, or else you’ll never hear the end of it from me or the others!”

Mark chuckles for the first time in a while, and hangs up. He straightens his back and slips his phone into the pocket of his jeans. His heart was beating fast, he felt so sure of what he felt for Lee Donghyuck and honestly, he can barely take a breath because he was going to do it, and no matter how it turned out he would be glad that he had at least gotten his feelings out of the way.

Mark stops by the bedroom mirror, and he makes sure that he looks at least somewhat decent. With a spritz of some random cologne which he found lying on top of a pile of clothing and after combing through his blonde hair, Mark deems himself as presentable.

He checks his phone again to see an encouraging text message from Jaemin.

**[7:24pm]** u got this dude!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Mark smiles and decides to reply to him later. With confidence in every step he took, Mark strides towards the door and opens it, ready to confess his love to Donghyuck in dramatic fashion.

What he  _ didn’t  _ expect was to see Donghyuck himself already on the other side of the door. 

 

* * *

 

 

Mark doesn’t know how long Donghyuck had been standing on the other side of their bedroom door. If he had been there a few minutes ago, he must have overheard his conversation with Jaemin. Which meant that Donghyuck had heard him say that he liked him.

Mark doesn’t really know what to say at that moment, but he manages out a weak and feeble “Hi”. Donghyuck’s face is coloured every shade of red, the very tips of his ears are flushed and his hands are balled into fists at the sides of his body.

His face is unreadable. Donghyuck’s eyes were shining, his cheeks burning a bright red and his mouth open slightly. He replies after a few seconds of silence. “Hey.” It’s the first thing that Donghyuck had said to him in two weeks and Mark notices how he can’t meet his eyes.

“Did… Did you..” Mark lets his words trail off, and he points back into their room. Donghyuck is staring at everything but him, he silently nods and makes a noise. Mark’s heart drops all the way to the bottom of his feet, and he feels as if his spirit had ascended up into the heavens.

“Can I talk to you outside?” Donghyuck says, and Mark can hear the nerves in his voice. Hearing Donghyuck sound so vulnerable is odd to Mark, hearing his snarky voice for months was enough for Mark to forget how just like him, Donghyuck is a young teenager.  

“S-sure.” Mark stammers out, and Donghyuck spins on his heels and walks towards the front door. 

The two ride down the elevator in silence, the only sounds being the creaking of the cable wire pulling the carriage down towards the ground floor. Mark is wracked with nerves. If Donghyuck had overheard  _ everything  _ he had said to Jaemin, it meant that he knew. He knows that Mark likes him and he’s been silent the whole time and it’s killing Mark on the inside.

The ‘ding’ of the elevator signals that they have reached the ground floor, and the doors open up for them. Donghyuck takes the lead and walks out and through the entrance of the building and into the night.

Mark has to rush to catch up with him, but Donghyuck’s waiting for him on the side of the road anyway, as he usually does. Donghyuck is always the faster walker. The two silently agree to walk down the dimly lit streets of Seoul. Mark’s hands are shoved into his pockets, and he takes expectant glances at Donghyuck. Why wasn’t he saying anything?

It’s another minute until Donghyuck actually speaks. “I want to apologise.” His voice is rough and hoarse, probably from practising his singing. Donghyuck continues, in that same soft voice. “I… I shouldn’t have avoided you. I’m sorry.”

Mark turns to stare at him, and he studies Donghyuck’s face. He’s filled with relief and happiness, because it’s literally been a week and a half since he had  _ actually  _ spoken and seen him. He runs over the details of Donghyuck’s face, the scar near his right eye, the mole on his cheekbone, and Mark notices how he has yet another zit on his cheek. 

“It’s fine. I just want to know why.” Mark says, he’s surprised at how stable his voice is, and he’s even more surprised at what he decides to say next. “Is it because… of that morning? You know, when we almost…” He gestures to his lips and Donghyuck’s whole face flares up again.

“Well, maybe… I didn’t know how to act normal around you.” Donghyuck mutters, kicking a stone forward. Mark notices how a small smile is starting to creep up onto his lips. “Was what you said to Jaemin true?”

Ah, so he  _ did  _ know. Mark dies on the inside and he and Donghyuck make eye contact. He can see the corner of his lips upturned ever so slightly, and he takes that as a good sign. “Well, yeah. I guess.”

Now, a full smile is on Donghyuck’s face. “I want to hear you actually say it though.” He says cheekily, and  _ that’s  _ the Donghyuck that everyone is used to.

“Say what?” Mark acts oblivious, but he knows damn well what Donghyuck wants him to say out loud. The two of them had stopped walking at that point, overlooking a spectacular view of the lit up downtown Seoul from the high point of land where their dorm is located at.

“Say it, or else I’m not saying it too.” Donghyuck says, with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face. He takes a step closer towards Mark, so close that Mark can feel his warm breath on him in the cold and crisp night air. 

Mark involuntary lets out a soft whimper, his heart thumping so loudly in his chest that he’s certain that Donghyuck can hear it. All of the romantic words which he was planning to say vanished from his mind. All he can think about is how absolutely stunning Donghyuck looks when the streetlights shine down on him, and how the light causes his eyes to shine oh so bright, and then he realises that those love-filled eyes are looking at  _ him  _ and suddenly Mark has no qualms of declaring his love for Donghyuck.

“Lee Donghyuck.” His name rolls effortlessly off Mark’s tongue. Donghyuck’s eyes crinkle up as he smiles, and Mark takes his hand in his. It’s warm and fits perfectly in his, Mark doesn’t know how he only realised it now. “I think I’m in love with you.”

Mark hears how Donghyuck’s breath hitches, he can tell that he took him by surprise. “That’s more like it.” Donghyuck doesn’t even need to say anything else for Mark’s hands to automatically come up to grip the back of Donghyuck’s neck, the younger male parts his lips slightly and holds onto his jacket tightly, as if he might just fly away any minute.

When their lips finally meet, it’s exactly how Mark imagined it to be. Donghyuck’s lips are so warm and soft, and he swears that he can taste strawberry chapstick on them. Mark hadn’t had his first kiss before, and he’s almost certain that Donghyuck hadn’t had his either. He feels Donghyuck smile against his lips as they moulded with his, and Mark is so overwhelmed with emotions that he can’t believe that it was actually happening.

Mark is the first to break apart for a breath of fresh air. He opens his eyes, and he sees Donghyuck staring at him with so much affection in his starry eyes, how rosy his cheeks are and how red and swollen his lips are. He can’t help but close the distance again, his hands threading Donghyuck’s dark brown hair between his fingers. Mark peppers the corner of Donghyuck’s lips with light kisses before recapturing his lips with his own again, a giggle slipping out of Donghyuck’s mouth as he pulls Mark even closer towards him.

 

* * *

 

 

The two stumbled their way back to the dorms, their hands intertwined and their hips bumping against each others’, Donghyuck leaning in to kiss Mark’s cheek multiple times as they did so. When they reenter the dorms, Jaehyun and Johnny who are sitting in the living room give them knowing smiles, and Mark sees Jaehyun pass Johnny a 5,000 won in a not very subtle way.

Now, the two were squeezed against each other in the small space that is Mark’s bed. Donghyuck is snuggled into him, his face hidden in the crook of Mark’s neck. Mark finds out that Donghyuck can’t bear to keep his hands or lips off him, and he realises this when he feels him pressing sloppy kisses to his neck.

“ _ God,  _ do you have to be so clingy?” Mark chuckles glancing down to look at him.

Donghyuck lifts his head up and smirks, throwing a leg over both of Mark’s and pulling him closer towards his body. “You love me anyway.”

As Donghyuck goes back to peppering Mark with kisses, Mark hears his phone buzz in his pocket, and he moves to take it out, much to the complaints of Donghyuck. It’s a text from Jaemin.

**[9:04pm]** its been 8 years. im gonna assume that it went well?

Mark smirks and he lifts his hand up from its position around Donghyuck’s shoulders to type back a reply.

**[9:05pm]** very well :)

“Jaemin?” Donghyuck enquires, glancing over at his phone screen. Mark nods as he watches the message send, and Donghyuck laughs. “Say thank you to him for me.” He wraps an arm around Mark’s waist, and rubs circles into skin. 

“Because without him, you’d probably have never figured it out on your own.” Donghyuck teases, and Mark pokes him in the stomach, sending him, his  _ boyfriend  _ into a fit of giggles. 

And they fell asleep just like that, the two of them cuddled up against each other to keep warm, their legs intertwined with each other and Donghyuck happy and content in Mark’s arms, just as he had always wanted.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much reading and i hope you enjoyed it! ٩(◕‿◕｡)۶


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